Strike of the Black Mamba [Paperback]

Ian Kruger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2008

The unthinkable has happened. An environmental organization warned the world against it. Still, nobody believed that it would turn out like this. But Donald Morse proves everyone wrong. Defying all security measures, he manages to steal a shipment of nuclear material from a cargo ship destined for Japan's nuclear power reactors. Could anything be worse than this scenario? Perhaps the fact that Donald Morse knows that South African scientists developed extremely dangerous nuclear weapons during the apartheid years, weapons that the world thought were not possible to construct. Donald has information where these deadly weapons are hidden - and he has plans to get them out. Ken Palmer is sent by the FBI to find Donald Morse and to arrest him. But Ken has to deal with traitors from within as well as onslaughts on his life. However, he discovers the real spine-chilling reason for Donald's need for the nuclear weapons and he realizes that Donald has to be stopped in any way possible.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in 1961, Ian Kruger grew up in different parts of Gauteng Province, South Africa, as well as in Namibia. He has a MBA, a BSc in Computer Science and Operations Research, a diploma in higher education and technical diploma in telecommunications electronics. Ian has been an electronic technician, a computer technician, a lecturer, a project manager, a management consultant and a software and web developer. He currently resides in Kempton Park, South Africa with his wife, 14-year old daughter and 19-month old son. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: CruGuru (February 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1920265139
• ISBN-13: 978-1920265137
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,187,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tomorrow's history ripped from today's headlines, April 9, 2008

By 

A. Han - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strike Of The Black Mamba (Paperback)

I want to describe this debut thriller novel with the cliche: Tomorrow's history ripped from today's headlines. This story refers to real events and issues that are important in today's news, such as shipments of dangerous nuclear materials around the world, weapons of mass destruction, nuclear terrorists, America's current situation in the world, etc.

Ken Palmer is an ex-FBI agent who has a good unterstanding of the psyche of a wanted criminal, Donald Morse, and the FBI recruits Ken Palmer to go and search for Morse in South Africa. Morse stole a military jet fighter airplane and uses it to steal a shipment of nuclear material. Morse has a special use for this material, but Palmer only discovers that towards the end. Morse also wants a new type of nuclear weapon hidden somewhere in South Africa and he goes after it in quite an interesting way.

The story contains a lot of suspense and action and follows Palmer in his search for Morse and his organisation and how Morse tries to end Palmer's life on various occations. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can recommend it to thriller lovers. An excellent debut novel!

5.0 out of 5 stars Scary stuff!, April 4, 2008

By 

Amie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strike Of The Black Mamba (Paperback)

I could summarize this debut thriller novel from Ian Kruger with the following: All is not what it seems to be ... this is scary stuff!

The bad guy in this story, Donald Morse, is a psychopath who has the ability to influence and mesmerize people. Through some devious scheming, he gets a test pilot in South Africa to steal a jet fighter plane and he uses this plane to sink a military ship so that he can heist a cargo of nuclear material from another ship on route to deliver the nuclear material to Japan's nuclear reactors. Through political manipulation and conniving, he gets some ex-nuclear physicists from the South African nuclear program back in the apartheid era to help him to build thermo-nuclear bombs from the stolen nuclear material.

The good guy, Ken Palmer, is an ex-FBI agent who knows Donald Morse from childhood and had to get Morse into jail a few years ago on charges of various criminal activities. Morse used to be a weapons manufacturer who supplied the apartheid South African government with high-tech weapons. In doing this, he violated US sanction laws against apartheid South Africa. Morse held his arrest and conviction against the American government, because he felt that he had helped America to fight against the Communist threat in South Africa, and this is mainly the motivation for his actions.

The FBI enlists Ken Palmer again to track down Morse in South Africa. As Ken starts his search for Morse, Morse raises the stakes by detonating a nuclear bomb to great effect. Morse also keeps Palmer's ex-girlfriend as a hostage. Eventually Palmer discovers that Morse knows where more deadly nuclear bombs are hidden. These bombs were developed by the apartheid-era South African nuclear physicists and were hidden by them when the nuclear development program was abandoned just before the end of the apartheid era. Morse wants these weapons and eventually Palmer discovers his plot, but Palmer is too late to stop Morse. Morse made sure that he has eyes and ears in many places, and so he goes after Palmer and tries to eliminate him. Palmer eventually gets wind of what Morse is really up to and this is not what everyone expects Morse to do - it is much more terrifying than anyone could have imagined.

I don't want to give away too much of the story here, but I have to mention that this suspenseful thriller kept me awake through the night. There is enough action, technology and science, plot twists and interesting characters to make this a must-read. Also, the bad guy, Morse, seems to have an endless horrifying assortment of creative methods to kill off his enemies. A great effort by a first-time author. I want to see more!